The Catalyst

By Chase Martin, Photo Editor

So is there any true reward for being socially involved during your high school experience? Some would argue that popularity in high school doesn’t actually matter for the bigger picture of future life, but a recent study done by scientist in Sweden proves differently. A student’s social involvement in high school and as a teen can actually affect the student’s bill of health as they grow into adulthood.

A HeathDay report on the Stockholm Birth Cohort Study reveals the study of 14,000 people between the years of 1953 and 2003. According to the report, the major year of study for the project was the sixth grade class of 1966, analyzing power, popularity, and social connections. The Stockholm study then compared these statistics with the sixth grader’s current bill of health as adults, mainly in the form of hospital discharge records.

The report revealed many surprising results, including the fact that people who were not powerful or popular in high school are four times as likely to be influenced by an illness of nutritional, hormonal, or metabolic causes as those who were more socially active and powerful. Another startling statistic resides over the issue that these same people who experience social isolation during high school are almost nine times more likely to get heart disease than those who were socially active.

As evidence for the relationship between social status and lifelong health habits strengthens, like with the recent Stockholm study, the question arises of the true causes behind this pattern. One can infer that the greatest reason for the pattern lies in the self-confidence as a human nature. If people are well liked in school, they will think of themselves in a higher light that those teens who feel like outcasts. It is this strive for a higher place in the hierarchy of school social standing that makes teens better their appearance, which sometimes correlates to bettering their health.

But this bettering of appearance can also lead to a downfall in health, such as with the implementation of poor health strategies in order to accomplish a task like weight loss. In reality, although a higher social status creates a better sense of personal awareness according to the Stockholm Birth Cohort Study, it seems that this awareness can also create unnecessary stress and expectations in somebody’s life. In the end, one must find a proper balance between how much they care about themselves and how much other people care about their appearance; they are in control of their own health.